The Chicago Bulls should enter conversations revolving around Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Over the last few months, things have started to look up for the Chicago Bulls. Undergoing a complete facelift when it comes to leadership, the Bulls’ young core now looks to vice president Arturas Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley to lead them in the right direction.
Whether it be the hiring of Karnisovas and Eversley, the firing of Jim Boylen, NBA superstars going on record saying big things are coming for Zach LaVine or moving up to pick no. 4 in the 2020 NBA Draft, this offseason suddenly seems to be in Chicago’s favor.
For the Bulls’ biggest division rival, though, things aren’t going as swimmingly.
The Milwaukee Bucks were taken out of the 2020 NBA Playoffs by former Bull Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat. Following the game, of course, rumors began to swirl regarding the future of league MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Not only will rumors continue to swirl about Giannis’ future, but they’ll only explode even further if he keeps up his recent social media activity.
It may mean something. It may mean nothing. But, Giannis recently unfollowed all Bucks teammates and personnel on his Instagram account.
Much can be made of social media activity in today’s society. Athletes have a much wider platform than they once did with the evolution of social media. If this ends up meaning nothing to Milwaukee, fine. But, for now, speculation is high.
It should be said that Giannis’ contract runs out after next season and he will enter free agency commanding a max deal. The Bucks already extended Khris Middleton, handing him big money. Their next priority is locking down Giannis. But, will he want to stay?
There are already rumblings of the Warriors making a huge offer to Milwaukee in effort to land Giannis. Some rumored offers contain guys like Draymond Green, Andrew Wiggins, Klay Thompson and some array of picks.
While the Warriors likely won’t deal Thompson, they could make a pretty sweet offer with Green, Wiggins and a handful of picks.
The Bulls don’t have that level of talent to offer, but Karnisovas should do his best to at least engage in the conversations — if there are any.
Chicago could make an offer including one of Wendell Carter or Lauri Markkanen, LaVine and two or three first-round picks. The big thing, here, is that Milwaukee would be most likely to take Chicago’s offer over the Warriors’ because the Bulls may still end up with a worse record than Golden State in the coming years.
Although, the goal of this type of trade is the exact opposite. By going all-in on Giannis and hoping to sign him long-term, Karnisovas would then put all his chips into the middle of a free agency battle in the coming years. Being able to attract a bigger name or two to go along with Giannis, Coby White and either Carter or Markkanen would be the goal.